Betty Crocker obsession a perfect mix for Perth cookie success Get Chunky

A teenage obsession with making Betty Crocker cookies led to the creation of Get Chunky, the New York-style cookie business that has grown from small market stall to bakery/café in under six months.

“It started when I was 15. I had an obsession with Betty Crocker biscuits, the easy-to-make add-an-egg-and-milk-and-then-you’re-done ones,” business owner Kyra McNally said.

“Then I started experimenting with my own recipes. It was really just a therapeutic hobby for me that I would do after hours, after work.”

McNally began researching the world’s best cookies and came across New York’s Levain Bakery on a food show. She asked her uncle, who lived in New York, to send her some and she has been “obsessed since then”.

“I started going crazy with recipes trying to make my own and came up with the idea of the name at 3am. It was like an epiphany,” she said.

“I wanted to acknowledge that Levain Bakery was my inspiration, which is why we went with New York-style.”

McNally, with husband David’s support, started baking while she was still running her eyelash-extension business from home. Starting a bakery seemed an unrealistic dream, so she set up at the Fremantle Markets one Sunday in August and was an instant hit on social media, with cookies selling out within two hours.

“We were blown away by the response,” she said. “It was just me by myself at home baking.

“I was inundated.”

The demand for cookies was so high, her mother and brother-in-law quit their jobs to join her. On Saturday McNally realises her dream of opening the bricks and mortar Get Chunky in Walcott Street, Mt Lawley.

“We are going to have cookies, we will be doing ice-cream sandwiches, a milk bar and Nitro Brew cold coffee,” she said.

“We have teamed up with the guys at Filament Coffee and that will be really exciting. I think they will go hand in hand, especially over summer.”

They will be using Take 5 ice-cream from Baldivis in their three-step ice-cream sandwiches (choose a cookie, an ice-cream and a topping) and other premium WA produce.

Flavours on sale include favourites peanut butter chip, S’mores, triple chocolate and chocolate walnut. Another two staple flavours are cherry choc chunk (Cherry Ripe-inspired vegan-friendly cookie) and chunk-Fetti (white chocolate, coconut and funfetti) while an Anzac cookie, coffee white chocolate and apple crumble will rotate on the menu.

McNally is working on a gluten-free cookie but had more demand for the vegan cookie.

“I am not vegan but the cherry is one of my favourites. I was determined to make a cookie that didn’t taste any different,” she said.

McNally said that given the 190g size – more than three times the size of the average cookie, people had not baulked at the $7 price (they are $6.50 each when four or more are purchased and ice-cream sandwiches will be $10).

Get Chunky will be giving away 100 free cookies on opening day with 100 free coffees, which has already sent social media into a frenzy.

“A lot of people are joking about setting up chairs and actually camping overnight. I don’t know if that is going to happen but that would be hilarious,” she said.

Get Chunky opens at 7/83 Walcott Street in Mt Lawley on Saturday at 9am, and will trade Wednesdays to Saturdays. They will continue Fridays to Sundays and pubic holidays at Fremantle Markets and there is also a pop-up at Westfield Whitford City.